As is known, food cooking vessels, such as frying-pans or saucepans, normally have grips that can be handled directly by the user even when cooking, or at any rate when the vessels are still hot. And to improve thermal insulation, most grips are made of (polymer) plastic materials, typically thermosetting resins, such as Bakelite, rather than metal.
In the case of frying-pans (that is, a normally round, low-sided, flaring cooking vessel with one grip), the most common type of grip comprises a normally elongated body with an attachment at one end for connection to the frying-pan. The body is normally molded in one piece from thermosetting polymer material, and is substantially solid except, possibly, for small seats for housing decorative inserts or fastening means, such as screws or rivets, for connection to the vessel.
A drawback of grips made of plastic material, however, lies precisely in their being solid. That is, if cooking is prolonged, or if the vessel is placed on the range with the grip close to a bare flame, even grips made of thermally insulated materials may reach high enough temperatures to burn the user. When this happens, it is important that the grip should cool quickly once the cause of the grip overheating is removed. On account of its thickness and low thermal conductivity, however, a solid grip made of plastic material is very slow to cool, thus prolonging the risk of burns to the user.